I am a tiny bit sad after finishing Everything You Need To Know by HelenKay Dimon because I have now read through all of the Cosmo Red-Hot Reads that I had on my Kindle. Y’all, these books are so perfect for when you are feeling behind on your Goodreads reading challenge and also want an ego boost for reading something so fast. While I have had mixed results so far with this line of books, I am glad I picked Everything You Need To Know for last because I genuinely enjoyed it, I liked it even better than Fearless by Tawny Weber. Seriously, if you must choose just two books from the Cosmo line, pick these two — Fearless and Everything You Need To Know as both feature awesome heroines, sexy love interests and interesting plots.
Jordan McAdams works a series of temp jobs, not because she needs to, but because she needs to confirm some vital information for her website. You see, she runs a dating website called Need To Know where women can anonymously ask about the men they are dating and confirm if they are cheaters, weirdos, and more. Jordan keeps her ownership of the site hush-hush. FYI, she started the site because she was dating this guy and it turns out he was in a committed relationship, effectively making Jordan the other women. So, she’s not very trusting when it comes to men. She also has some family drama going on. Forest Redder, owner of some company, is about to challenge all Jordan’s assumptions, as the two have an undeniable spark.
And yo, that spark really permeates through Everything You Need To Know. It’s really superb, how Jordan and Forest connect physically but also on an intellectual level. I really felt that the two were equals, and I loved that. Also, the sex between them was not weird, no pubes twitching like in Naked Sushi thank goodness. I liked how it took longer for Forest and Jordan to fall into bed together, it’s a bit like a compressed slow burn. I loved it, like to me, it’s more um, effective when the author includes sexual tension and yo, it is there.
I am really liking this Cosmo series because I get to try totally new to me authors without investing a ton of my time to find out whether I will like them a lot. Friends, I really like Helenkay Dimon’s writing style. I thought this novella was well-written, well paced, and well executed. I loved the romance. I loved the characters. I even really liked the cover. If you’re looking for a quick read with decent sexytimes, pick up Everything You Need To Know.
Disclosure: Review copy provided by publisher.
Other reviews of Everything You Need To Know by HelenKay Dimon:
Harlequin Junkie – “refreshing, heartfelt and real”
Miss Emma MM – “It’s an okay read”
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First of all, you had me with that cover 😉 In the immortal words of Clueless – “Break me off a piece of that!” (I will later blame this all on my cough medicine)
In all seriousness though, Everything You Need To Know does sound like the sort of story I would enjoy, too! There are few things I appreciate more than a slow-burning romance riddled with sexual tension – You really want a couple to earn that happy ending, after all – and I really like the idea that Jordan used her negative dating experience as an inspiration to help others. It really isn’t a bad idea for a website, although right off the bat I can think of more than a couple of things that might go wrong (i.e. A man is unfairly labeled simply because of one contentious relationship or bad break-up, etc) But as usual, I’m likely over-thinking things. As you said, sometimes there’s nothing better than a quick, light-hearted novella to speed through in order to break up a bad reading slump or if you’re simply in the mood for less serious far.
I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes out for this one! Thanks for the lovely and comprehensive review, April, as always 😀